Ex-Hearthstone devs are making a shiny new Marvel mobile game

Now staffing up after getting a bunch of investment money

Marvel absolutely loves having games made with its IP, so it comes as little surprise that the company has handed out its wealth of superheroes and villains to a new mobile game company - especially one headed up by some of the ex-Hearthstone team.

Yes, former Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode and Executive Producer Hamilton Chu have signed up their new company, Second Dinner, to work on an unannounced Marvel project. That's pretty exciting!

The pair have also raised $30 million from a minority investment from NetEase, one of the world's largest China-based games publishers. So expect their game to hit China and be focused for the Asia market, I guess.

There's absolutely no indication what kind of game Second Dinner will be making, beyond it having Marvel characters in it. But given how hard they're leaning on their Hearthstone credentials, we could probably expect a Marvel-based CCG that's a bit like Hearthstone, except not.

That would actually fill a gap in the Marvel market - there's just about every other type of game out there with superheroes tacked on. Marvel Strike Force, Marvel Battle Lines, Marvel Contest of Champions... the list is near-endless. All it's missing is a killer CCG.

We don't normally use quotes from press releases in our stories, but this one is one of my all-time favourites so here goes: "In all likelihood, this will be the best game ever made," said Hamilton Chu, CEO of Second Dinner. "I made a spreadsheet so I'm pretty sure."

OK, one more because this one is also a killer: "I'm just excited they're out of my house," said Ben Brode's wife. Beautiful. Magnificent. I'll play the game no matter what it is now (and I would have done anyway because it's literally my job).

Got any wild claims about what kind of game it's likely to be? Had your fill of CCGs and want something a bit different? Sound off in the comments, dear reader.